Karl Hurst‘s new photoseries, ‘Doggerland Chronicles’, surveys the pale bands and frayed timbers of the east coast of northern England, a seaward tilt invoking the Mesolithic landmass, sunk beneath the North Sea. Click here to view the images. ‘Cave Time and Sea Changes’, a short film comprising a different series of images by Hurst and a poem-sequence by Matthew Clegg, offers a contrasting vision of the east coast; click here to view the film and read Clegg’s accompany reflections.

‘Artists need to balance integration and differentiation in their creative lives, and there is value in learning how to integrate with cultural institutions. Become too integrated, and you risk being institutionalised, addicted to validation; but become too differentiated, and you risk being nowhere.’  In a new post for the Longbarrow Blog, Matthew Clegg explores the relationship between his teaching practice and his creative work, and the tension between orthodox methods and objectives and the independent, resourceful spirit of the self-taught practitioner. Click here to read ‘Writing and the Autodidact’.

‘At thirteen my skinny body peeled apart…’ Our new Featured Poem is ‘Skin’ by Chris Jones, taken from his recent collection of the same name; click here to read the poem (and to view a short film featuring images by Karl Hurst). Skin is among the seven Longbarrow hardbacks featured in our current Special Offers (others include Angelina D’Roza and Fay Musselwhite‘s debut collections, published earlier this year, and The Navigators by Matthew Clegg). Choose any combination of 3 hardbacks for £32,  or any 2 for £22. These beautifully produced books offer an ideal introduction to Longbarrow Press, and make great gifts. Click here for further details. Our Twitter feed also has a number of limited offers throughout December; follow us here for more information.